Mechanical starter for internal-combustion engines



F. D. WARNER.

MECHANICAL STARTER FOR INTERNAL COMBUSTION ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 29, 1920.

1 ,389, 1 O8 Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

UNITED STATES FREDERICK D. WARNER, OF MIDDLET'OWN, NEW YORK.

MECHANICAL STARTER roa rn'rnananconsusrron ENGINES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 30, 1921.

Application filed March 29, 1920; Serial No. 369,725.

ToaZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK D. WARNER, a citizen of the United States, residing at 82 East avenue, Middletown, in the county of Orange and State. of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements I in Mechanical Starters for Internal-Combustion Engines, of which the following is a specification.

. Myinvention relates to mechanical starters for internal combustion engines and more particularly to mechanical starters for small aeronautical motors.

The starter per 86, instead of projecting without and beyond the exterior lines of the motor (as viewed from'either the front or rear) is so related thereto as to occupy the space atone end of the V formed by the motor cylinders. Thus positioned, the starter offers no resistance, whatsoever where the motor is streamlined, and'may be, if desired, entirely inclosed within the motor cowling. Heretofore, no consideration whatsoever has been given in this regard. Moreover, by po sitioning the starter as intimated, it is en tirely practical to support the mechanism thereof upon the motor crank case. so that the engine bearers, and not the longrons or other structural elements of the fuselage, bear the operating stresses.

The starter itself con'ipris-es a plurality of gears and shafts, a gear segment, a lever, a clutch, an operating cord and a bearing'of special design; The bearing or standard restsfdirectly upon a projection formed on the motor crank case and adjacent to its free 1 end supports two of the mentioned shafts.

' mounted.

Upon one of these shafts the gear segment and the lev-erarm are mounted, and upon the other of the shafts two of the gears (the gears being of different diameter) are The smaller of these gears is in mesh with the gear 011 the first mentioned shaft. ne-cted with the crank shaft'of the motor. Accordingly, by exerting a pull on the operating cord which is attached to the free endof ,tlie lever, the motor crank shaft is turned over and the engine started. The clutch provided is to, release the starter mechanism after the engine is operating under its own power. Should one operation of the starter mechanism fail to start the motor a return spring, connected with the free end of the lever, is provided .to'return the starter mechanism to its original position.

The gear of larger diameter is con-- Thus returned, the starter mechanism may be again or repeatedly operated.

Of the drawings, wherein like characters of reference designate like or correspondlng parts,

Figure 1 is a plan "iew of an airplane fuselage showing the relative arrangement of'the motor and mechanical starter,

Fig. 2 is a rear end elevation of the motor plus the starting mechanism, and,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the motor and starting mechanism as illustrated in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment of the inventionselect-ed for illustration, only the nose end of an airplane fuselage, designated in its entirety by the numeral 10, is illustrated. The fuselage comprises longrons l1, fuselage struts 12, and wiring 13. Within and at the extreme forward end of the fuselage the motor 14 is inclosed. The motor illustrated is of the four-cycle two cylinder Vtype, the cylinders of which are designated as 15 and the crank case of which is designated as 16. At one end, the crank case 16 of the motor 1s enlarged or projected rearwardly as at 1'7 tosupport upon the projection thus formed, an upright bearing 18 bolted to the crank case projection as indicated. In the absence of a 7 better term, the bearing 18 will be hereinafter referred to as a double bearing. Two shafts are journaled inthe bearing. One of these shafts, designated as 19, carries a lever arm 20 on one side of the bearing and a gear segment 21 on the opposite side thereof. The axis of the shaft, if extended, would extend into the V space between the motor cylinders; The other of the shafts ournaled in the double bearing is designated as 22. This shaft carries a small gear or pinion 23 the teeth bf which are in mesh with the gear segment 21. It also carries a comparatively large gear orsprocket 2-1, the diameter of which is several times the diameter of the small. gear or pinion. This large gear. or sprocket 24 is directly connected bya chain 25 with a small gear or sprocket 26 mounted on a stub shaft 27,

guide 30, over which it passes. From the guide 30 the operating cord extends down waiuiy to a guide 31 and thence inwardly operates the chain connection between the sprocket 2d and the spr .cket 26.- By pro viding a proper ratio between the connected gears and sprockets the crank shaft is made to rotate several complete revolutions. Ordinarily several revolutions of the crank shaft are suflicient to start the motor.

Upon releasing the foot pressure on the lever the lever arm 20 is brought back to its original position by a return spring 84 connected at one end with the free end of the lever at its opposite end with one of the longrons ll of the fuselage. The return spring, it will be noted, extends off from the lever; in a direction opposite to that of the operating cord. Consequently, the pull eX- erted on the lever by operation of the foot pedal is directly against the action of the spring. the overrunning clutch connection between the stub shaft 27 and the sprocket wheel 26 automatically throws out the 7 starter mechanism the moment the motor begins to operate under its own power.

From the foregoing it will be noted that a mechanical starter of the character descibed is simple of construction, compact,

and easy of installation,- ts relative arrangement with respect to the motor cylinders and to. the projected end of the crank case is such that the engine bearers or motor supports receive the operating stresses and the motor cylinders shield it from the directline of air rush under conditions where the motor is exposed. Ordinarily, the motor is streamlined, and under such circumstances the starter mechanism may be readily inlined with the ,motor due to its proxiir 1 to the cylinders and due to the further fact that the starter mechanism lies entirely within. the limits defined by the exterior lines of the motor as viewed from either the front or the rear.

ll hilc l have described my invention. in detail '1 its present preferred embodiment, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art ail..er understanding my invention, that various made herein without departing from the spirit or scope thereof. 1 im i th changes and modifications may be pended claims to cover all such modifications and changes. 1

What is claimed is:

1. In a mechanical starter for internal combustion engines, the combination with a V type motor having a crank case projection at one end and a crank shaft extended into the crank case projection, of an upright bearing mounted upon the crank case projection, a shaft journaled'in said bearing, the relative arrangement of the shaft to the venginecylinders being such that the axisof the shaft if continued would extend into thespace defined by the inner walls of the motor cylinders, a lever arm mounted on said shaft, a gear segment mounted on said shaft, a second shaft journaled in said bearing below and in parallelism with the first mentioned shaft; a gear mounted on this second shaft, said last mentioned gear and the gear" segment'being at all times in mesh, a connection between said last mentioned gear and the crank shaft for rotating the latter by movement of the lever arm, operating means connected with the lever arm, and a spring for returning the lever arm to its original posit-ion subsequent to each operation.

2'. In a mechanical starter for internal,

mote from the engine, one end of the operating lever having a connection with the operating cord for imparting movement to the lever arm, a gear segment mounted on said shaft, :1. second shaft journaled in said bearing below and in parallelism with the first mentioned shaft, a gear mounted on said second shaft, said last mentioned gear and the gear segment being at all times in mesh, a connection between said last mentioned gear and'the crank shaft for rotating the latter by movement of the lever arm, and a return spring connected to the lever arm to return the starter mechanism to'its ori inal position subsequent toeach opera b tion of the operating lever.

In testimony whereof I al'lix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

FREDERICK D. WARNER. Witnesses i LEWIS E. MooRE, W E. MclVmuAMs. 

